Madame Madge never claimed to be a completely genuine psychic. Of course, there are very few people who could be called genuine psychics. Nobody can predict the future with 100% accuracy. Even computers have limitations like with unpredictable forces of nature or the different changes made by free will. Madge thought she had a relatively good success rate with the tarot cards, though the cards' vagueness allows her and others to interpret them in almost any way with enough imagination. Still, she was only self-taught with her craft and it excited her that a mystic from the orient will be joining her...well, she couldn't call it a coven, could she? Well, now that there was going to be four of them, they finally have enough for a tarocchini club. Of course, she was going to have to teach how to play tarocchine first.
Madge was quite thrilled to be able to have a Zoom call with Madame Zhen not long after she finished her conversion. Her choice of snake had given her scales of the palest shade of blue, almost white. This contrasted with her long black hair, which made Madge almost a little envious. But she knew she'd be giving up her own hair when she chose to become a cobra. "So, what is it like being a pit viper?" asked Madge.
"I'm ssstill getting usssed to thingsss," said Zhen, showing the sibilant hissing typical of newly uplifted/converted snake Animalians.
"It's quite a bit to adapt to," said Madge, folding her hands in front of her, "But it doesn't take too long."
Zhen looked at Madge's hands and said, "You have four armsss."
"Yes, I was rather intrigued with some of the Hindu artifacts I inherited from my great-grandfather," said Madge, "It's becoming rather popular with snakes lately."
"Yesss, but I think I'm better off with jussst my two armsss," said Zhen, "My appearanccce may be off-putting enough asss it isss. I don't want to ssscare thossse old ladiesss to death."
"What old ladies?" asked Madge.
"Well, there are a few reasssonsss I chossse to convert," said Zhen, "Part of it isss for my own health. But I alssso wanted to sssponsssor a sssmall group of old ladiesss who dessserve a sssecond chanccce more than othersss."
"Why is that?" asked Madge.
Zhen hesitated a moment before asking, "Have you ever heard of foot binding?"
Madge shuddered at that. Foot binding was an ancient Chinese custom in which the feet of young girls are broken and tightly bound so that would fit into tiny shoes called lotus shoes. In late imperial China, it was seen as a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. But the horrific way the girls' feet were molded into the shape of the tiny shoes was obviously very painful and left them hobbled for life. Thankfully, the practice was stigmatized and stamped out. "I would have thought that most of the women who had bound feet would have passed away by now," said Madge.
"There aren't many left. But you know what they sssay about Asssian longevity," said Zhen.
"So you're wanting to sponsor the conversion of women with 'lotus feet'?" asked Madge.
"Not necccesssarily into sssnakesss," said Zhen before frowning and swearing, "Tā māde niǎo."
Madge chuckled and said, "Don't worry, you'll be able to master your new tongue eventually. But I don't think you'll need to make as much effort as you think."
"Easssy for you to sssay. I jussst got thisss tongue," said Zhen.
"I meant getting sponsorship for your tiny footed women," said Madge, "I'm pretty sure the Chinese government would like to bury that last unpleasant part of the past and help get those women converted. They just need to know where those women are."
Zhen nodded and said, "I know a few. And onccce I get word out, I'm sssure more will follow."
Madge nodded in agreement. Though she did wonder a little at Zhen's motivation. Not that wanting to help these poor old women wasn't good enough reason, but Madge wondered what made Zhen think about them in particular. Perhaps she was one such woman. It might explain why she only wanted two arms after becoming a snake, even she didn't want to see crippled feed anymore. But Zhen didn't want to talk about that, Madge could respect her privacy. Besides, if she wants to keep an air of mystery about herself, Madge could certain sympathize.